What is it about?
Professional service providers who work with commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY) in California were interviewed to determine what is needed to successfully transition youth from juvenile detention to the community. Key findings identified needs for improvement in: 1) CSEY screening, 2) building relationships, 3) access to resources in the community (housing, financial, health care, education, etc.), 4) working through ambiguous feelings about the ethics determining when/how to effectively treat CSEY as victims rather than criminals, 5) support systems for service providers experiencing vicarious trauma and acute/chronic stress as a result of the work.
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Why is it important?
CSEY experience violent and repeated traumas at alarming rates. Professional service providers who intervene and support them are at high risk for secondary (vicarious) trauma leading to psychological distress, burnout, and turnover. Professional service providers require support for their own mental health and well-being, as well as the ability to provide the consistent care that CSEY need to successfully exit sex work and to recover.
Perspectives
Working with commercially sexually exploited youth is extraordinarily demanding in terms of relationship development, resources needed, and emotional resilience required.
Dr. Michelle DeCoux Hampton
Samuel Merritt University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: CSEY service provider perceptions of critical needs for effective care as youth transition from juvenile detention to the community, Child Abuse & Neglect, February 2020, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104084.
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